GG has a common section and a choice between advanced Geology and advanced Geophysics. You choose the optional section during the application; the two options have separate ranks and qualifying marks.

Geology and Geophysics is tested within a 100-mark paper. The paper also includes General Aptitude. The sections below show the complete subject syllabus.

GATE GG Syllabus and Marks Distribution

Choose Geology or Geophysics during the application. Both share Part A but have different Part B syllabi. The optional sections have separate ranks and qualifying marks; do not assume that one overall GG closing score describes both options.

Geology and Geophysics Unit-wise Syllabus

Common Section

• This section includes various introductory topics related to geology and geophysics. Introduction to Earth and planetary systems: Terrestrial planets and moons of the solar system; Concept of isostasy, Internal structure of Earth – elasticity, body and surface waves, propagation of body waves in the Earth’s interior; Heat flow within the Earth; Gravitational field of the Earth; Continental and oceanic crust – composition, structure and thickness.
• Plate Tectonics: Type of plate boundaries; Plate motions and driving mechanisms; Processes at plate boundaries - volcanism, seismicity, orogenesis, sea-floor spreading and magnetic anomalies and paleomagnetism, formation of back-arc basins; Continental rifting, mantle plumes, hotspots; Numerical problems related to plate motions.
• Earth surface processes: Landforms created by hillslopes, rivers, wind, glaciers, oceans, and volcanoes.
• Basic structural geology : Mohr’s circle, stress, strain, and material response; Brittle and ductile deformation; Nomenclature and classification of folds and faults.
• Mineralogy: Silicate crystal structure, physical and chemical properties of common rock-forming minerals.
• Common Igneous: Sedimentary, and metamorphic-rocks: composition, structure, and formation processes.
• Stratigraphy and Geological time scale : R elative and absolute time, Half -life, decay constant, radioactive equilibrium, stratigraphic principles, and major stratigraphic divisions of India ; Major metallic ores, coal and petroleum resources of India.
• Introduction to remote sensing : Energy sources and radiation principles, atmospheric absorption, interaction of energy with Earth’s surface; Engineering properties of rocks and soils ; Natural hazards (landslide, volcanic, seismogenic, coastal) and mitigation; Principles of climate change;
• Elements of hydrogeology : Principles and applications of gravity, magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, seismic, and radiometric methods of prospecting for oil, mineral, and groundwater.

Advanced topics in Geology

• Geomorphology: Basic geomorphic concepts, Geomorphic processes, and agents; Development and evolution of landforms in continental and oceanic settings; Landscape evolution in response to tectonics, climate, and base - level change. Quaternary geomorphology.
• Structural Geology: Stress and strain analysis, deformation mechanisms, primary and secondary structures; Geometry and genesis of planar and linear structures (bedding, cleavage, schistosity, lineation); Folds, faults, joints, and unconformities; Shear zones, thrusts, and superposed folding; Geological maps -interpretation, measurements, and numerical analysis; Stereographic projection.
• Crystallography and Mineralogy: Elements of crystal symmetry, form, and twinning; Crystallographic projections; Classification of minerals, physical and optical properties of rock -forming minerals; Mineral nucleation; Mineral chemistry (major, trace, and rare earth elements), cation re-calculations.
• Geochemistry: Nucleosynthesis and cosmic abundance of elements; Classification and components of meteorites; Geochemical affinities and distribution of major, minor and trace elements in crust, mantle, and core; Planetary differentiation and geochemical evolution of the earth; Radiogenic (long-lived) isotopic evolution (Rb- Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb) of the crust and the mantle, mantle reservoirs; Stable isotope geochemistry (H, O, C), isotope fractionation; geochemical cycles; Elements of high -temperature and low -temperature geochemical thermodynamics; Geochemical and isotopic (C -O, Sr isotopes) composition of river water, groundwater and
• seawater, residence time, and water -rock interaction; Principles of environmental geochemistry (pH, Salinity, TDS, BOD, COD).
• Igneous Petrology: Classification and textures of common igneous rocks; Mantle melting; Magmatic differentiation; Role of major, trace, and rare earth elements in igneous petrogenesis; Magma evolution, modeling crystallization and melting processes, plate margin volcanism; Intra-plate volcanism and large igneous provinces.
• Thermodynamics: Equilibrium, Gibbs free energy; enthalpy, entropy, energy, Clapeyron Equation, Mineral stability and Phase equilibria, Schreinmakers rules; Phase rule; Phase diagrams, Activity-composition; Mineral solid solutions; Enthalpy and entropy of magma crystallization, Binary and ternary phase diagrams in igneous systems; Chemical speciation and equilibrium in natural waters, solubility and precipitation of minerals - saturation index calculations, Eh-pH diagrams and redox equilibria.
• Sedimentology: Texture, structure, sedimentary processes, physical principles related to fluid flow; Statistical analysis in sedimentology; Petrology of common sedimentary rocks; Sedimentary facies and environments, cyclicities in sedimentary succession; Provenance and basin analysis.
• Metamorphic Petrology: Structures and textures of metamorphic rocks; Extreme metamorphism; Metamorphic facies and grades; Paired metamorphic belts; Mineral reactions and chemographic projections; Metamorphism of pelitic, mafic and impure carbonate rocks; role of bulk compositions and fluids in metamorphism; Thermobarometry; Timing of metamorphism.
• Paleontology: Diversity of life through time, mass extinctions - causes and effects; Taphonomy - processes of fossilization. functional morphology of invertebrates (bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, echinoids, ammonites) and microfossils - (foraminifera, Ostracoda, conodonts, bryozoa); Statistical analysis of morphology; Vertebrate paleontology. Basic concepts of paleoecology; Fossils and paleoenvironments.
• Stratigraphy: Principles of stratigraphy, concepts of correlation and their applications in Indian stratigraphy; Quantitative Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and chronostratigraphy - statistical and probabilistic approaches; Isotope stratigraphy; Principles of sequence stratigraphy and applications; Boundary problems in Indian stratigraphy.
• Resource Geology: Ore-mineralogy; Ore forming processes - magmatic, hydrothermal, sedimentary, supergene, and metamorphogenic ores; Fluid inclusions in ore genesis; Coal and petroleum geology; Marine mineral resources; Prospecting and exploration of economic mineral deposits - sampling, ore reserve estimation, geostatistics, and mining methods ; Distribution of strategic, essential, and critical minerals and fossil fuel deposits in India.
• Engineering Geology: Physico-mechanical properties of rocks and soils; rock index tests; Rock failure criteria (Mohr-Coulomb, Griffith, and Hoek -Brown criteria); Shear strength of rock discontinuities; Rock mass classifications (RMR and Q Systems); in -situ stresses; Geological factors in the construction of engineering structures including dams, tunnels, and excavation sites; Analysis of slope stability.
• Hydrogeology: Porosity and permeability; Groundwater storage and aquifer properties; Darcy’s law; Hydraulic conductivity and groundwater flow dynamics; Groundwater exploration, well hydraulics.
• Remote Sensing: EM spectrum, multispectral remote sensing in visible, infrared, thermal IR and microwave regions including hyperspectral; Digital processing of satellite images. GIS – basic concepts, raster and vector mode operations; Applications of remote sensing tools and techniques in geology.

Advanced topics in Geophysics

• Heat flow: Elements of conduction and convection within the mantle and the core, Half-space cooling, calculation of simple geotherms, geothermal gradient, equilibrium geotherms, thermal models in plate tectonics, adiabat, and melting in the mantle.
• Geodesy: Gravitational Field of the Earth; Clairaut’s theorem, size and shape of Earth; Geoid; Ellipsoid; Geodetic Reference Systems; Datum; GPS.
• Seismology and Interior of the Earth: Variation of density, velocity, pressure, temperature, electrical and magnetic properties of the Earth ; Conservation laws, Newton’s law of viscosity, elements of laminar and turbulent flow; Elements of elasticity theory - stress and strain tensors, Generalized Hooke’s Law; Body and Surface Waves; Rotational, dilatational, irrotational, and equivoluminal wave s; Reflection and refraction of elastic waves; Inhomogeneous and evanescent waves and bounded waves; Eikonal Equation and Ray theory; Wave propagation in elastic media, Seismic Tomography.
• Earthquake Seismology: Earthquakes-causes and measurements, magnitude and intensity, focal mechanisms; Earthquake quantification, source characteristics, seismotectonics and seismic hazards; Digital seismographs, Earthquake statistics, quantifying earthquake source from seismological data ; Uniqueness Theorem, Representation Theorems of correlation and convolution type, Reciprocity.
• Potential and Time Varying Fields: Scalar and vector potential fields; Laplace, Maxwell and Helmholtz equations for solution of different types of boundary value problems in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical polar coordinates; Green’s theorem; Image theory; integral equations in potential and time-varying field theory.
• Gravity: The earth as a planet; Absolute and relative gravity measurements; The various corrections for gravity data reduction – free air, Bouguer and isostatic anomalies; density estimates of rocks; Regional and residual gravity separation; Principle of equivalent stratum; Upward and downward continuation; Wavelength filtering; Gravity anomalies and their interpretation – anomalies due to geometrical and irregular shaped bodies, depth rules, calculation of mass.
• Magnetic Methods: Geomagnetic field, paleomagnetism; Inclination, declination; Magnetic induction equation – convection, diffusion, Ohm’s law for a moving conductor, frozen flux theorem, magnetic fields of planets in the Solar System, Geodynamo and origin of Earth’s Magnetic field, magnetic susceptibility of rocks and measurements; Various corrections applied to magnetic data, IGRF, Poisson’s relation of gravity and magnetic potential field, upward and downward continuation, magnetic anomalies due to geometrical and irregular shaped bodies; Interpretation of processed magnetic anomaly data; Derivative, analytic signal and Euler Depth Solutions.
• Electrical Methods: Conduction of electricity through rocks, electrical conductivities of metals, non-metals, rock- forming minerals and different rocks, concepts of D.C. resistivity measurement and depth of investigation; Apparent Resistivity and Apparent Chargeability, Theo ry of Reciprocity, Sounding and Profiling, Various electrode arrangements, application of linear filter theory, Sounding curves over multi-layered earth, interpretation of resistivity field data, Principles of equivalence and suppression.
• Electromagnetic Methods: Geo-electromagnetic spectrum; Biot Savart’s Law; Maxwell’s Equation, Helmholtz Equation, Basic concept of EM induction in the earth, Skin -depth, elliptic polarization, in-phase and quadrature components, phasor diagrams; Response function and respo nse parameters; Measurements in different source receiver configurations; Earth’s natural electromagnetic methods - tellurics, geomagnetic depth sounding and magnetotellurics; Electromagnetic profiling and Sounding, Time domain EM method; EM scale modelling, processing of EM data and interpretation; Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Methods; Effect of conducting overburden.
• Seismic Methods: Elastic properties of earth materials; Reflection, refraction, generation, and propagation of elastic waves, velocity – depth models, seismic noise and noise profile analysis, processing, and interpretation; CDP stacking charts, binning, filtering, static and dynamic corrections, Digital seismic data processing, seismic deconvolution and migration methods, attribute analysis, bright and dim spots, seismic stratigraphy, high - resolution seismics, VSP, AVO, multi -component seismics, and seismic interferomet ry; Kirchhoff migration, Time Reversal, Time -Reversal imaging, Reverse -Time Migration; Representation theorem of cross -correlation
• and convolution type.
• Reservoir Geophysics: Rock Physics and Petrophysics, Failure Criteria, stress concentration, Linear elasticity fracture mechanics, Elastic -Plastic Fracture mechanics; Griffith’s criterion, dynamic fracture mechanics; Lithology and Porosity Estimation; Saturation and Permeability Estimation; application of borehole geophysics in groundwater, mineral, and oil exploration.
• Geophysical Signal Processing: Sampling theorem, Nyquist frequency, aliasing, Fourier series, periodic waveform, Fourier and Hilbert transform, Z -transform and wavelet transform; power spectrum, delta function, auto-correlation, cross-correlation, convolution, deconvolution, principles o f digital filters, windows, poles, and zeros, Basics of Time-frequency analysis.
• Geophysical Well Logging: Principles and techniques of geophysical well -logging, SP, resistivity, induction, gamma ray, neutron, density, sonic, temperature, dip meter, caliper, nuclear magnetic resonance- longitudinal and transverse relaxation, CPMG sequence, porosity characterization, cement bond logging, micro-logs, Quantitative evaluation of formations from well logs.
• Geophysical Inversion: Basic concepts of forward and inverse problems, Ill -posedness of inverse problems, condition number, non -uniqueness and stability of solutions; L1, L2, and Lp norms, overdetermined, underdetermined and mixed determined inverse problems, quasi -linear and non -linear methods including Tikhonov’s regularization method, Singular Value Decomposition, Backus-Gilbert method, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, swarm intelligence, Statistics of misfit and likelihood, Random Variables and Processes, Probability distribution functions - Gaussian, Poissonian , log -normal; Spatial analysis, Hypothesis testing ; Bayesian construction of posterior probabilities, sparsity promoting L1 optimization ; Ambiguity and uncertainty in geophysical interpretation; PDE constrained optimization, Adjoint-state method.

General Aptitude Syllabus

General Aptitude contributes 15 marks within the 100-mark paper. It is not an additional paper that can be left out when choosing the technical sections.

Chapter-wise Weightage and Important Topics

Only the section-wise marks are fixed. IIT Madras has not assigned a guaranteed number of marks to each chapter of Geology and Geophysics. A topic may appear in one year and receive fewer questions in another; a past-paper count is not an official 2027 weightage.

For a chapter-weightage comparison, record the year, paper code, session, question number and marks of each matching question. Keep a combined question under one main topic or label the overlap explicitly; counting it twice inflates the total. GATE previous-year question papers can be used for this topic-by-topic practice.

Question Types and Negative Marking

The paper uses one-mark and two-mark questions. The number of MCQ, MSQ and NAT questions is not a fixed chapter-wise quota. In an MSQ, selecting one correct option is not enough when the correct answer contains two options.